Finnish businessman Niko Ranta-aho faces aggravated tax fraud charges over Spanish property deals

Niko Ranta-aho and a relative appeared in Helsinki District Court on Tuesday facing two counts of aggravated tax fraud tied to real estate transactions in Spain, public broadcaster Yle reports.

Prosecutors allege the offences occurred in Tampere between 2016 and 2020, involving hundreds of thousands of euros in concealed dividend payments. The Finnish Tax Administration is listed as the injured party in the case. A conviction for aggravated tax fraud carries a minimum sentence of four months and a maximum of four years in prison.

Ranta-aho, a central figure in Finland’s largest drug trafficking cases known as Katiska 1 and Katiska 2, was previously sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison for serious narcotics offences. The National Bureau of Investigation launched its tax evasion probe based on evidence uncovered during the Katiska 1 investigation, which led to convictions for over 50 individuals.

Finnish media reported in February that Ranta-aho had been released on conditional parole, having served half his sentence—much of it in pretrial detention.